New mortgage approvals surged to 84,700 last month, as Greggs, John Menzies and Card Factory are all hit by the pandemic

The summer is usually a quiet time for estate agents and lenders, as people are more interested in summer holidays than property viewings. But not this year….

The Covid-19 pandemic “completely upended” the UK property market in August, says Hina Bhudia, partner at Knight Frank Finance:

Interest rates remain ultra-low and the cheap cost of debt is driving a significant amount of this activity.

“Most of the activity we’re seeing is at sub 75% loan-to-value and the lenders all want a bigger slice of that market. That means the choice of products for borrowers at that level is growing every day.

Here’s some snap reaction to the UK mortgage figures:

Striking evidence of bounce in #UK #housing market activity since restrictions on activity were removed, reinforced by raising of Stamp Duty threshold as #mortgage approvals for #house purchases at near 13 year-high in August. Doubts remain over outlook
https://t.co/T8h5VdtvZR

UK mortgage approvals climbed to a 13-year high in August, supported by the government’s stamp duty holiday https://t.co/yA1TO7VZ41 pic.twitter.com/ZYnHNphg5a

Continue reading…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You May Also Like

Judge denies Trump’s third attempt this week to delay hush-money trial

Case on Monday will be first ever criminal trial of an ex-president…

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny jailed for two years and eight months

Court locks up Putin’s foe despite threat of protests and international condemnation…

Bob Dylan sells entire recorded catalogue to Sony Music Entertainment

The deal covers all Dylan recordings dating from 1962 to future originals…

A smoking quill? Notes in Bible margin could be handwriting of the Venerable Bede

Annotations in eighth-century manuscript point to work of revered English monk, scholar…